A, the applicant was granted a residence permit on grounds of family ties (family reunification). The family relationship broke due to divorce and the applicant’s residence permit was not renewed. The applicant appealed against the refusal to renew the residence permit and the question before the Supreme Administrative Court was whether A's personal situation was particularly difficult, as referred to in section 54 (7) of the Aliens Act, due to violence or abuse inflicted on her by her spouse during the validity of the family ties, and whether the refusal of the residence permit was unreasonable considering the circumstances.

The Supreme Administrative Court mentioned that a criminal conviction or a restraining order was not necessarily required as proof of the violence or abuse referred to in the provision. The court mentioned as an example that an individualised information received from the social authorities or other reliable information about facts of violence or abuse during the marriage can also be considered sufficient.

The court stated that the difficulty of the personal situation as provided by Section 54 and the unreasonableness of the refusal of a residence permit must be evaluated as a whole, which takes into account the factors related to the residence permit applicant's family situation, security and health, as well as other individual circumstances affecting the personal situation. The court clarified that the overall assessment must take into account the applicant's circumstances in Finland, but other elements might be relevant, specifically it can be important whether the violence directed at the applicant by the ex-spouse affected the applicant's chances of returning to her home country.

The court noted that the applicant has been living with the family sponsor for only 8 months before they separated and at the time of the FIS decision, they were living separately for more than two years. The applicant did not substantiate to have been subjected to specific security-related threats in Finland after the spouse moved apart, they have no children and after the divorce, she has been on a job training and worked for some months. In view of the abovementioned, the applicant’s personal situation in Finland could not be considered as being particularly difficult at the time of decision-making, due to the violence inflicted on her by her ex-spouse during the marriage, as provided in Section 54(7) of the Aliens Act. Although the applicant mentioned unsafety in the country of origin due to alleged threats from the ex-spouse and his family, the court noted that no specific explanation was given as for the danger. On the issue of the threat of so-called honor violence in the home country, this aspect was assessed in connection with the international protection application which was rejected.

The court added that the mere fact that the applicant was diagnosed in Finland with severe depression related to the threat of deportation is not a reason to assess the case differently. The Supreme Administrative Court concluded that the rejection of a residence permit granted pursuant to § 54 subsection 7 of the Aliens Act must not be considered unreasonable.